With the further integration of the domestic cigarette packs market, with regard to the impact of integration on cigarette pack printing, it has been predicted that cigarette pack printing will be as large as foreign ones, with a large batch size and a simple process. However, in reality, the merger of grades has resulted in large batch sizes. It is a fact, but the possibility of simplification of the process is relatively small. Domestic cigarette packs have their own peculiar conditions. On the one hand, they are threats or hidden dangers of counterfeit and inferior products. On the other hand, it is the fierce competition among various manufacturers that it is impossible to make concessions on the technology in order to highlight the brand. Therefore, it is difficult for the cigarette packs that have adopted the high-end technology to be lowered again. This puts forward new requirements for the cigarette packet printing industry. The printing equipment must not only adapt to large-volume live jobs, but also must increase the speed of high-end processes. Such as holographic positioning hot, usually only 20 to 40 meters/minute on a narrow-width flexo printing machine connection line, when the opening to 40 meters, the accuracy has been relatively poor. This is a big gap between the industrial production efficiency required for mass production. This bottleneck restricts the operation of the entire equipment to the finest speed. So, at the level of craftsmanship, not to mention speeding up at the same time, this poses a challenge for flexographic equipment. In addition, accuracy is also a crucial factor. For large orders, reducing the cost of loss is the most direct profit. For cigarette pack production, the precision of overprinting, the quality of dot reproduction, and the stability of hue are all affecting quality (products The direct factor of passing rate, and the reduction of scrap rate can directly bring profits to manufacturers.

In view of this demand trend in the domestic cigarette packs market, can a narrow-width flexographic printer be able to achieve multi-process combinations and special process configurations under high-speed and stable conditions, while ensuring high accuracy? Here, we will discuss with you some of Omit's solutions for the domestic cigarette package market.

Screen printing and flexo printing

Although many cigarette packs use flat screen printing, this method is limited in speed. From a trend point of view, online circular screen printing has a greater advantage and will replace flat screen printing.

The silk screen printing unit is inserted into the flexo printing unit. Since screen printing and flexo printing belong to light pressure printing, there is not much problem in matching printing. The main reason is to cooperate with UV ink manufacturers. How to convert flat screen ink into round screen ink . Omet company has made a good attempt on this, the speed of wire printing can be opened up to 150m/min, and the printing of coarse sand (domestic ink) can be done at 80m/min. This is just a domestic ink factory. The initial attempt to transfer from flat screen ink to circular screen ink will further improve the speed of debugging. In addition, because solvent inks and alcoholic inks for screens currently have certain advantages in terms of costs, etc., Oemite has developed a special drying device to match the solvent or ink of alcoholic ink in the screen unit. Drying power up to 48 kilowatts to ensure high-speed operation of the equipment.

Gravure and screen printing

Due to its stable hue and high saturation, gravure printing is particularly suitable for gold and silver ink printing and has an important position in cigarette pack printing. Gravure printing is used in the on-line application of flexo printing units. Although there are many flexographic printers to try, the solution is not necessarily satisfactory. The main reason is that the combination of gravure press printing and flexo press is more difficult. Inserting the gravure printing unit in the flexographic printing unit corresponds to placing a tension disturbance source in the entire machine. The gravure printing unit continuously disturbs the tension of the entire unit, which reduces the overall printing accuracy. In order to solve this problem, Omet company made a lot of efforts, especially the gravure unit placed in the center of the entire unit, and achieved good results.

Special processes such as holographic effects

As mentioned in the opening holographic positioning hot, this technology also belongs to the continuous development and maturity process in the international context. The main problem of on-line holographic positioning hot is how to ensure that the equipment (hot stamping unit) can achieve high-speed and stable operation under high accuracy. OMET has redesigned the hologram unit based on experience in non-shaft drive technology and servo technology. The speed can be more than twice the current market speed, greatly improving production efficiency and meeting the requirements of normal industrial production. On OMIT's non-shaft drive model, holographic positioning hot can be achieved at any position. In the process, it can be hot, after printing, and then hot, using connection holography (positioning) transfer, with holographic positioning hot, to form a positioning transfer + Positioning printing + positioning hot + positioning printing and other processes, greatly improve the product's security. There are also escaping sewing seams. These technologies, which are currently of great concern to cigarette pack production, will soon be actually installed and actually produced in China.

Higher accuracy

Accuracy for cigarette packs means high-end appearance and reduced rejects. Overprint accuracy is a comprehensive indicator of the performance of the machine and equipment. It is the reaction of tension control system, drying system, transmission system, and die-cut overprint accuracy. Taking the drying system as an example, in order to ensure precise control of the temperature of the material, Oemite Inc. is equipped with a separate motor for the air blowing and suction devices in each color group. The air volume can be individually adjusted according to the difference in the printing area of ​​each set, thus avoiding the traditional machine. Each type of air volume can not be controlled separately, resulting in the phenomenon of not easy to dry in the field. At the same time, with a unique large-scale water-cooled roller, it is possible to better maintain the temperature of the substrate, prevent the material from swelling, and maintain the tension between the color groups. Even if the power of the color-changing group is increased, the deformation of the material will not be caused. Traditionally, narrow-width machines are not easy to handle ultra-thin materials or large-scale printing. Omet flexo presses usually use materials from thin to thick to demonstrate the overprint performance of the equipment during high and low speed shifts.

Twin-cut double position die cutting technology

Also mention Omet's patented technology - Twn-Cut. The advantage of this die-cutting system is that it can use a magnetic die-cutting cylinder to handle all jobs between 12 and 33 inches in length. This technology is based on the servo drive type, combined with the increasingly mature magnetic knife die cutting technology, to solve the cost bottleneck of the wire round die cutting method. For printing manufacturers, magnetic knife roll + die cutting knife skin is a kind of wire-cutting die-cutting method that is very suitable for cigarette packs. It can achieve the similar effect as the overall round knife, but when the circumference of the typesetting printing repeat changes, the magnetic knife roll It must be replaced, magnetic knife roll investment is expensive, and the long lead time, usually takes 2 months. The Twin-Cut system maintains synchronization with printing through servo drive technology and can handle multiple types of products with different typesettings, different repeatable perimeters, and different die-cut shapes within the print cycle range of printing presses. Die cutting can be used to save the follow-up capital investment and shorten the replacement of the two aspects for the printing manufacturers to bring benefits.

Domestic cigarette packs market is a special and challenging market for printing equipment manufacturers. For Omet, a company known for its innovative technologies, it is very willing to cooperate with printing companies to provide printing technologies that are suitable for the Chinese cigarette packs market. The plan explores and promotes the development of cigarette pack printing.

Author: Italy Omet company chief